UK Inquiry Tracker

Environmental regulation

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry

Opened: 12 Dec 2025 Parliament page

Regulation is one of the main tools the government is using to make a success of the Environmental Improvement Plan . Government’s stated intention is to streamline regulation, to both safeguard nature and drive economic growth. Environmental regulators are sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), … Read more Regulation is one of the main tools the government is using to make a success of the Environmental Improvement Plan . Government’s stated intention is to streamline regulation, to both safeguard nature and drive economic growth. Environmental regulators are sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), with the two largest being the Environment Agency (EA) and Natural England. An independent review this year of Defra’s regulatory landscape found that the system is not working as well as it should to support either nature recovery or economic growth. The PAC’s 2022 report on government actions to combat waste crime found that the approach in this area had been closer to decriminalisation than tackling the problem. It warned in 2021 when scrutinising how government works to achieve its long-term environmental goals that progress was disappointing, with the complexity of environmental issues not a good enough excuse for serious delays in tackling critical environmental issues like air quality, water quality and wildlife loss. In early 2026, the National Audit Office (NAO) publishes its study examining to what extent the EA and Natural England are well-placed to maximise the environmental benefits of how they regulate while ensuring business costs are proportionate. Proceeding from the NAO’s findings, the PAC will hear from senior officials at Defra, EA and Natural England as it scrutinises what regulators and Defra need to do to implement the change required to meet government’s environmental aims. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Wednesday 21 January 2026 . Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. The Committee decides what information to publish and how. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is for the Committee to say whether it will agree.It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues. Show less

5 Recommendations

25 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

2 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 5 events

25 Mar
2026

Report published

74th Report - Environmental regulation

23 Feb
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive Officer of the Environment Agency relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 02 February 2026 on Envir…

23 Feb
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive of Natural England relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 02 February 2026 on Environmental Regula…

2 Feb
2026

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

2 Feb
2026

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

2 Feb 2026

View on parliament.uk

Marian Spain · Natural England Paul Kissack · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Philip Duffy · Environment Agency Sally Randall · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
74th Report - Environmental regulation	HC 1687	25 Mar 2026	30	Overdue

Recommendations & Conclusions

30 results

2 Recommendation Accepted in Part

74th Report - Environmental regula…

Defra has not set out precisely what environmental regulation should achieve and how the regulators...

Defra has not set out precisely what environmental regulation should achieve and how the regulators should be set up to achieve this. Regulators currently operate across a complex landscape, with overlapping responsibilities, differing cultures and inconsistent approaches. Yet Defra has … Read more

Government Response

Defra has set out a clear vision for environmental regulation through Strategic Policy Statements, but disagrees with the recommendation to bring all regulatory functions together.

HM Treasury

Environmental regulation

Activity timeline 5 events

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Recommendations & Conclusions

Defra has not set out precisely what environmental regulation should achieve and how the regulators...

Defra and the regulators are still a long way from where they need to be...

Waste regulation as currently set up is not effective enough at stopping waste crime or...

Defra and the regulators are not doing enough to provide guidance and support to help...

The Nature Restoration Fund has potential to benefit the environment and support developers, but we...

On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence...

After a period of limited change to the regulatory landscape, three major reviews in 2025...

Both the regulators and Defra consider the complexity of the legislation under which they operate...

Defra already has challenges and pressures over the next few years and has potentially substantial...

Environmental regulation is complex, with more than 3,000 separate pieces of legislation and more than...

Defra’s approach to environmental regulation has largely been reactive rather than based on a clear...

When we asked the regulators what they would most value from Defra to improve the...

Defra’s approach to funding the regulators shows that Defra does not always appear to have...

In 2023, the previous Committee reported that Defra had one of the most significant legacy...

Defra told us that historically the Department and its arm’s-length bodies developed their own IT...

The Environment Agency told us it had a large legacy IT problem in 2020, with...

We asked how gaps in digital skills affected Defra and the regulators.

The Environment Agency regulates a range of industrial sectors and various parts of the waste...

The Environment Agency also has some responsibilities for tackling waste crime.

The Environment Agency told us that tackling illegal waste sites is also the responsibility of...

Enforcement action is sometimes necessary, but it is costly for the regulators and may require...

Defra told us about ways in which it expects the regulatory burden on farmers to...

Defra will also introduce a single water regulator, which will take on the water-related regulatory...

The Environment Agency conceded that a lot of guidance is confusing, difficult to follow, and...

Natural England told us it has made progress in improving its guidance through adding real-life...

The Planning and Infrastructure Act is a wide-ranging reform of the planning system, intended to...

Defra told us that the Nature Restoration Fund is an innovative solution which will unblock...

The first step in implementing the Nature Restoration Fund is to produce Environmental Delivery Plans...

Natural England is not meeting its current demands effectively, and new responsibilities it is taking...

Statutory biodiversity net gain (BNG) is an existing scheme requiring that developers’ planning applications avoid...

Government Response AI assessment · 6 of 5 classified

Correspondence 2 letters